The ban hammer has visited Diablo III as thousands of players have been banned by Blizzard, for using bots, cheating, and other horrid deeds. This, however, begs the question: Does the ban come too late?

We have seen a good deal of banning going on this month in the world of gaming – from new games like Planetside 2 to established games like League of Legends, companies everywhere seem to have gotten sick of certain players and neither casual nor pro players are safe. Whether it's negative attitude or cheating, big name games are cutting away the fat.

Diablo III has had its share of news-making: from the controversial release of its real-money marketplace, to the idea of the game itself (a third edition of a very old title). Now, Blizzard released a bit of news: it has gone and banned thousands of players on Diablo III. Why land the ban hammer? For using bots, cheating, and also “undermining the spirit of fair play.”

“We’ve recently issued account bans to several thousand Diablo III players who were found to be using botting programs while playing. In addition to undermining the spirit of fair play, botting, hacking, and other forms of cheating can also cause technical problems with the game as well as contribute to performance issues with the Battle.net service,” said Lylirra, a Blizzard community manager, on the official forums.

Many are saying that this is too little and too late as players have been complaining about the increase in cheating and bot-usage for months now.

The company plans to put in changes, however, to make it easier for players to report the hackers and abusers of the game. “We will also be adding the ability for players to report this kind of behavior directly through the game client in a future patch,” added Lylirra.

For now, Blizzard is urging players to report cheating, botting, and other illegal deeds on the forums. Even so, many have abandoned the game entirely, and Blizzard is hoping this move will attract old and new players alike.

One thing is for sure, the ban hammer has seen a lot of light recently. What game will it strike next?